Gun carrier



Jan. 23, 1945. H. D. STEVENS GUN CARRIER Filed Aug. 20, 1943 2Sheets-Sheet 1 v"mm 3 V E T s D E C A R o H Jan. 23, 1945- H. D. STEVENSGUN CARRIER Filed Aug. 20, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 grwexrvtw HORACE. o.sravgns Patented Jan. 23, 1945 GUN CARRIER Horace D. Stevens, Akron,Ohio, assignor toThe Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio, acorporation of Ohio Application August 20, 1943, Serial No. 499,428

1 Claim.

This invention relates to. a self-propelled gun carriage, morespecifically, a gun mounted for firing on a gun mount positioned on thebody of a truck or tractor. For purposes of illustration the inventionhas been shown and described by reference to a 40 mm. anti-aircraft typegun mounted on a truck similar to those used for carrying troops. Thetruck may have as a driving means the usual wheels or, more preferably,will be provided with what is known as a half-track.

A sun of .this type is so mounted as to be elevated throughout a widearc and also is capable of being rotated 360 in azimuth. Such a gun isfired rapidly and the empty cartridge cases are ejected so that theypass down a chute and radially from the gun mount at a relatively lowelevation. In most mountings for these guns the empty cases are merelydischarged onto the ground and. their disposal is not a concern for thegun crew. When the gun is mounted on a self-propelled gun carrier ofthis type, space is rather restricted and it is also desired to shieldthe gun crew and the gun itself to as great an extent as is practicable.To that end, a shielding of steel plate surrounds the gun and mountcoming up to a height determined by the lowest depression of the gunitself -(about According to the present invention the body of the car.-rier and. the shieldin for the gun have been so constructedas tocooperate with the ejector chute of the gun to discharge all emptycartridg cases to a point outside the shielding and outside the body ofthe carrier.

This allows freedom of movement for the gun crew and prevents loading upof the body with empty cases, that being something which rapidlyincreases the weight to be transported in the event the gun is fired forany extended period of time, and also obviates any possibility of emptycases jamming the gun mount mechanism or otherwise interfering with itsfreedom of operation.

The gun carrier has also been constructed so that when being driven aswhen transporting the gun from one position to another, those sitting inthe cab may be fully protected at the sides of the cab and also havebenefit of a windshield, yet when the vehicle is stopped for firing, thewindshield and other protectin elements at the side of the cab may belowered so as not to interfere with depression and swinging of the gunitself.

These and other novel features of the gun carrier will be described byreference to the accompanying figures of drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a half-track gun carrier with the gun andother elements in position to be transported;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same mechanism illustrated in Fig, 1;

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the gun carrier, the gun and mount beingleftout thereby to simplify the view;

Fig. 4 is a section takenat the forward part of the body floor and atthe back of the cab; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing slots and a chute for disposal ofempty cartridge cases at the forward part of the carrier body.

Now referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, a gun carrier has been illustrated inwhich the chassis includes a frame Ill, front wheels II and a halftrackgenerally indicated by numeral l2. This half-track has sprockets l3 andit one of which is a driving sprocket, a track member [5 and a, centralsupporting mechanism It. This member I6 has pivoting levers ll and itwhich carry bogies l9 and 29, respectively, by which, in combinationwith a guide roller 2 I, the track is maintained taut and is allowed toconform to the contour of the terrain over which the vehicle is driven.The vehicle is propelled by an internal combustion engine of the typeemployed in trucks and mounted at the forward end.

The vehicle is driven from a cab 22 having a seat 23, cab back 24 anddoors 25, one of which is hinged at either side of the cab for entranceto or exit from the same. Each of the doors has hinged at its upper edgea plate 25, this plate, the sides of the cab and the cab back all beingof steel of a type and of such thickness as to protect the driver andthe other crew members from shrapnel, bomb fragments or fire from gunsof smaller caliber. A windshield El is also hinged and is adapted tofold forwardly when desired.

When sides 25 and the windshield 27 are raised they may be locked inposition. The windshield is notched at the center to provide a recessthrough which the gun barrel passes when it is in horizontal position asis the case when it is being transported.

The invention is not dependent upon employmerit of any particular gun ortype of gun, but for illustrative purposes, a Bofors type gun and mounthave been shown. Such a gun includes a breech mechanism 28, barrel 29,side frames 30 and an ejection chute which comprises a short, curvedchannelledelement 3| movable inside a longer and slightly largerchannelled element 32. The chute 3| connects at the back end of thebreech mechanism while the continuing part of the chute which is fixedto the upper or ovable part of the carriage on which side frames 30 aremounted extends down at an arc concentric with the center of trunnions33 so that when the gun is elevated and depressed, the short curved part3| of the chute will always guide ejected cases into the larger chute 32so that the will slide along that chute and out at about the point 34. Adetailed description of the gun will not be given here since it wouldserve no useful purpose and is available in U. S. Patent No. 2,103,670.

The carrier body has a floor 35, better shown in Figs. 4 and 5. Thisfloor is below all parts of the upper or rotatable-portion of the gunmount, but is elevated from the frame high enough so as to clear the topof the half-track driving members and completely to overlie the same.The cab back 24 shields the gun crew as much as is possible from thefront, while at the sides, shields 36 and 31 extend along with their topedge just high enough to be cleared by the gun parts adjacent theretowhen the gun is depressed 5 and is rotated toward either side of thecarrier. Likewise, a similar shield 38 extends across the rear portionof the carrier body.

While they would not be in position if the gun were being fired, bows39, 46 and 4| may be attached to the side shielding members and are forthe purpose of supporting a top of canvas or other protecting material.

When the gun is to be fired jacks 42 are lowered and adjusted to takethe weight of the vehicle at that end. At the same time outriggers 43are swung to the sides and are pegged into the ground to brace thevehicle against side thrust. The design and function of these jacks andoutriggers are well known to those skilled in the art.

Inside the body there is space at the corners for clips of ammunition asillustrated at 44. It will be noted that the center line of the gunmount is slightly forward of the center of the body so that with asymmetrical arrangement for ammunition at the corners, quite a bit ofspace is available at the back of the body for extra cases ofammunition.

While they form no part of the present invention, machine guns 45 and 46are fixed, one at either side of the 40 mm. gun.

The lower margins of the shielding members 36, 3'! and 38 are spacedfrom the floor 35 of the carrier a sufficient distance so that emptycases ejected toward any point along the sides or back of the body mayeasily pas through the elongated slot or opening thus left between theseelements. It has been found that a space about 3 high serves verysatisfactorily for 40 mm. cases. The end 3 of the ejection chute isslightly above the elongated openings, but these cases drop toward thefloor soon after leaving the end of the chute and this difference ofelevation is just about sufficient for ejected cases to pass through theopening either at the sides or the back. In the event they. strike thefloor, of course, they slide along the floor and out the openings. Ifdesired, the shielding may be spaced outwardly from the floor. Thearrangement is such that the shell cases are projected laterally oi thevehicle and fall to the ground clear of the halftrack propellingmechanism.

In the event the gun is being fired when pointed forwardly of thecarrier, or in that general direction, the empty cases will be ejectedfrom chute 32 toward the cab back 24. To take care of those cases, arectangular depression has been formed in the iioor 35 and the floorbent downwardly as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 to form an inclinedplane or guiding surface 41. As shown in Fig. 5, cases ejected towardthis rectangular depression or inclined chute will either pass throughthe opening as indicated by the arrows, or if they have sufiicient enery to strike the cab back, will merely bound back and fall through thechute when they engage the inclined plane 41. In either case they fallto the ground between the half-track propelling mechanism of thecarrier. If the empty cases strike the cab back between the sides of therectangular chute and the slots beneath shields 36 or 31, they willstrike that back which is a smooth metallic surface, at such an angle asto be deflected or to glance from the surface of the metal outwardlythrough the side openings. That is illustrated by the other arrows inFig. 5. It can thus be seen that no matter in what direction the gun isfired, empty cases will be ejected radially to be disposed of as theypass through the elongated slots at the sides or back of the body, downthe rectangular chute at the front, or if they strike between therectangular opening and the sides of the body,

will be deflected to pass out through the elongated side slots.

The invention has been described by reference to a more or less specificdisclosure of a preferred embodiment of the same, but that is not to beconstrued as limiting the invention other than as it is defined in theappended claim.

I claim:

In a self propelled gun carrier, the combination of a chassis includingdriven ground-engaging propelling means, a body having a floor and a cabat one end thereof, said floor completely overlying said propellingmeans, a gun and gun mount operatively mounted upon the body andarranged to swing through an arc of 360, said gun being adapted to ejectempty cartridge cases outwardly and substantially horizontally fromslightly above the floor ofsaid body, shielding mean for the gun andmount, which means includes the back of the cab and armour plate at thesides and back of the body, said armour plate being positioned somewhatabove the floor of the body to enable cartridge cases ejected from thegun to pass outwardly between said floor and armour plate and fall tothe ground clear of said propelling means, and a chute extending throughthe floor of the body centrally thereof and immediately behind the cab,for discharging empty cartridge cases from the carrier so that they fallto the ground between the propelling means.

HORACE D. STEVENS.

